Protection
by tricksterflame
Summary: When Add's first jobs get scared, of course they run to the older versions of themselves. Those older versions are all too happy to argue over their younger selves.


"Jerk!" Arc made a grab for the book in Psych's hand, but the other Tracer held it away.

"Douchecanoe!" Psych retorted. "If you want your book, give me back my data!"

Arc spun a silver flash drive between his fingers, then slipped it into a jacket pocket. "Book first, then I'll give back your data."

"Right," Psych spat sarcastically. "It's sad, because you're literally me, but I trust you about as far as I could kick you. And I'd honestly be interested to see how far that would be."

"Wanna find out?" Lusa was leaning against the wall, watching the first jobs argue with interest. He finally decided it was time to step in, in defence of the younger version of himself. He walked up behind Psych, placing a black-gloved hand on his shoulder.

Arc stepped back, noting the smug look on Psych's face and the annoyed electricity crackling around Lusa's Dynamos. He stammered something, drew out the flash drive and threw it on the floor, and ran to Mastermind's lab.

"What is it now?" the older researcher said irritably as Arc burst in. His Dynamos scanned the younger version of himself, and told Mastermind that he was seriously spooked. "... Add?"

"Mastermind, Lusa almost beat me up!" Arc whined, looking at Mastermind through his bangs. "And Psych stole my book!"

Mastermind dropped his screwdriver onto Apocalypse. He cursed, fumbling around to get it back, then looked at Arc. "He did, mmmh? Let's fix that, keke."

As Mastermind strode out of his lab, Arc fell in behind him, staying close enough to touch his long white coat.

You could feel the tension in the room, Psych mused as Mastermind and Lusa stared each other down. Mastermind's arms were crossed over his chest, and he was glaring at the Lunatic Psyker. Psych's older form, in turn, was grinning as he cracked his knuckles. Psych was grinning, too, still clutching Arc's book. Sure, he had stolen it first. But it had codes in it, so who cared?

"Psych needs to give Arc's book back to him." Mastermind's voice was as cold as the slave cells had been. Lusa laughed, throwing his head back.

"And why would he do that, pray tell?"

"Because I'll have Apocalypse come after him if he doesn't."

"Ah, but the poofball stole Psych's data, keke. Did he tell you that?"

Mastermind raised an eyebrow. "Good. I hope he made a copy of it, I want to analyze it and point out all the errors."

"Kkkh," Lusa growled, activating his Nasod armor and throwing a punch at Mastermind. Arc darted out of the way, watching at the edge of the room with wide eyes.

Mastermind dodged the punch, activating his drone installation and shooting a dart to mark Lusa as a target. Psych's Dynamos helped him get out of the way as Mastermind launched a fission shot, knocking Lusa backwards as the drone split into four shots and detonated.

Lusa fought back, and soon, purple explosions and shouts raged across the living room. Psych numbly handed Arc his book back, and Arc took it with equal lack of emotion, both fixated on the fight.

After five minutes, the two furious Adds showed no sign of stopping. Psych was still surprised that they got into a fight over the first jobs.

One of Arc's Dynamos poked Psych's shoulder. "Wanna go grab popcorn?" he asked.

"Sure," Psych replied, and the two backed away from the fighting geniuses and into the kitchen. Psych busied himself with finding the instant popcorn. Arc placed his book gently on the counter, his Dynamos rushing to key in the time for the microwave.

"What's going on in there?" Both Adds looked up at the annoyed voice. Time was standing there, arms crossed. His one good eye was darting back and forth between the two. "It sounds like a fight."

"Keh. What would you know about fighting?" Psych scoffed. "You do literally nothing."

"Not true," Time began to protest, and yelped when two of Arc's Dynamos hooked themselves into the strap of his eyepatch and lifted it off his head.

"Kek!" Time's hand shot up to cover his eye. "Give it back!"

Arc took it from his Dynamo, sticking out his tongue. "Come get it, you dimwitted puppy!"

Psych laughed, abandoning the search for popcorn and coming to stand beside Arc. "Yeah, you-"

"Kuhuhuhuhu..." A shadow loomed over the two young Tracers, and they whirled around. Esper was standing there, arms crossed. His Dynamos were vibrating like Mastermind's would when ticked off, and he was laughing creepily.

Esper bent down, getting right in Arc and Psych's faces. "Give Time his eyepatch back, or I'll send you into another dimension and leave you there," Esper hissed, still grinning. His sclera went black, and Arc swallowed nervously.

"Eh... yeah, I'll just..." He hooked the eyepatch onto one of his Dynamos again, and it quickly flew over to Time, quivering as the other Add reclaimed his accessory. "Just don't kill us," he said quietly.

Esper straightened up, chuckling. "Kill you? Kuhuhuhuhu, how messy. I'd just take you into another dimension, confiscate your weapons, and see how long you survived." Still chuckling, he looked at Psych. "To quote you... shall we begin the experiment?"

Arc and Psych had never gotten out of a room faster in their entire lives.

Arc went straight to Mastermind, who was in the middle of switching drone installations. Psych hid behind the Lunatic Psyker, peeking out to make sure that Esper hadn't followed them.

Lusa halted his punch, looking curiously at Psych. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Esper's being creepy as fuck," Psych said, looking up at his older self. Arc backed him up, nodding urgently at Mastermind.

"He threatened to send us into another dimension as an experiment," Arc whined.

Mastermind and Lusa exchanged glances. "Yeah. That happened to us once. It wasn't fun," Lusa muttered.

Mastermind shuddered, seeming to remember something and not liking the memory. He looked at Lusa. "Continue this later?"

Lusa grinned. "Choice between beating you up and beating up Esper? I'll take Esper."

"Yeah, that's because you have more chance of winning."

Lusa was already moving toward the kitchen with Psych behind him, fully intent on hurting the Diabolic Esper. "Shut up, are you coming or not?"

Mastermind looked at Arc. "Shall we?" His Dynamos betrayed that it was a rhetorical question, however, as they circled outwards to summon a new installation.

Arc grinned, following Mastermind as the older scientist walked calmly into battle.


End file.
